French Teachers Rally Against New Rules

britexpat
By britexpat

Once again.. I take my Beret off to the Froggies.. Government interference is going beyond what is acceptable...

Washington Post Foreign Service

Alain Refalo, a veteran elementary schoolteacher in this luxuriant corner of southwestern France, decided enough was enough.

In a defiant letter to local authorities, he refused to carry out a new Education Ministry rule mandating extra classroom work for slow learners because, in his view, it would overtax his young charges. Worse, he explained in an interview, the orders from Paris seemed to be part of a trend inching French schools away from some of their most cherished ideals, making them resemble something in England or even America.

"I told myself I could not do things that were against my conscience," Refalo said.

For his defiance, Refalo, 45, spent eight hours Thursday before a ministry disciplinary council here, risking demotion or suspension in a punishment that officials said would be handed down in a few days. But he was not alone. Since Refalo wrote his letter Nov. 6, more than 2,800 French schoolteachers have issued similar declarations; they have become what they describe as an unprecedented civil disobedience movement against the ministry's efforts to change some of the ways French elementary school students are taught.

The revolt, although involving a minuscule proportion of the country's 350,000 such educators, has dramatized anew how deeply France cherishes its traditions and how ready its people are to resist what they see as attacks on a way of life and a set of ideals that they know and trust. The issue has become particularly sensitive since the rise to power of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected in May 2007 on a pledge to break with the past and push French society into a globalized 21st century.

As the teachers saw it, at stake in Toulouse was a concept of universal public schooling that has informed what happens in French classrooms ever since it was defined by Jules Ferry, an education minister in the late 19th century. Basically, it established that elementary schools should be government-run, free for anybody and ready to teach the same thing at the same time, so children everywhere across France have an equal chance at success.

By slim93• 22 Jul 2009 01:39
slim93

The government was supposed to enrol teacher assistants trained to do some after school activities and particularly helping pupils with special needs but not the class Teacher.

Just few months ago, it was the same blatant promess of English as foreign language for primary students. They finally turned to class teachers who have never heard one word of English in their life to teach the poor pupils.

The main government concern is becoming actually the window dressing.

God bless the Queen!!

By truthfulvisitor• 22 Jul 2009 00:48
truthfulvisitor

but what were the new rules that they rebelling against? extra classroom work for slow learners? that seems a bit mundane to get one's knickers dans une twiste over

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